Highlights of This Issue

The association between aspirin use and risk of pancreatic cancer has been inconsistent across studies. Risch and colleagues performed a population-based study of pancreatic cancer patients and control subjects in Shanghai, China. Participants were asked about episodes of regular use of aspirin, tablets per day or week, and ages that use started and stopped. Ever-regular use of aspirin was associated with lowered risk of pancreatic cancer. Risk decreased 8% per each cumulative year of use. Regular use of aspirin thus appears to reduce risk of pancreatic cancer by almost half.

The effects of menthol on smoking behavior and carcinogen exposure have been inconclusive. Menthol-glucuronide (MG) has been identified as the most significant metabolite directly related to smoking. Hsu and colleagues studied MG in relation to smoking behavior and metabolomic profiles. Smokers smoked two cigarettes in the laboratory one hour apart, and blood nicotine, MG, and exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) boosts were determined (the difference before and after smoking). MG boost was positively correlated with CO boost, nicotine boost, average puff volume, puff duration, and total smoke exposure. Plasma MG boost is a new smoking behavior biomarker that may provide novel information over self-reported use of menthol cigarettes.

While most endometrial carcinoma patients are diagnosed at an early stage with a good prognosis, the relatively low fraction of endometrial carcinoma patients with lethal disease constitutes a substantial number of patients due to the high incidence rate. Preoperative identification of these high-risk patients is necessary to tailor treatment. Nucleotyping refers to the characterization of cell nuclei by image cytometry and assessment of chromatin structure by nuclear texture analysis. This method has not been evaluated in preoperative curettage specimens from endometrial carcinoma patients. The prognostic impact of changes in chromatin structure quantified with Nucleotyping was evaluated by Hveem and colleagues in specimens from endometrial carcinoma patients. Nucleotyping in preoperative curettage specimens is an independent prognostic marker for disease-specific survival, with potential to supplement existing parameters for endometrial carcinoma risk stratification.

Early-life socioeconomic status (SES) may play a role in cancer risk in adulthood; however, measuring SES retrospectively presents challenges. Stroup and colleagues used parental occupation on birth certificates to ascertain early-life SES. Cancer incidence was then determined by linkage to the Utah Cancer Registry. Females with low SES at birth had lower risk of breast cancer compared with those in the highest SES group. SES was inversely associated with melanoma and prostate cancer. Women born into lower SES neighborhoods had a significantly increased risk for invasive cervical cancer, and neighborhood SES had similar effects for melanoma and prostate cancers. Individual SES derived from parental occupation at birth was associated with altered risk for several cancer sites.